1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for steam cooking in an automated household oven.
2. Description of the Related Art
The benefits of cooking food with steam are widely recognized and include accelerating the cooking process, moisturizing the food during the cooking process, and preserving vitamins and nutrients in the food. Some contemporary household ovens incorporate an automated steam generating system that introduces steam into the cooking cavity of the oven. During the cooking cycle, steam can be generated and introduced into the cavity according to a manual cooking program, or the user can select an automatic cooking program customized for the particular type of food being cooked. While the manual cooking cycle is simpler to implement with respect to the oven controller, it is possible that the user can enter inappropriate inputs for the manual cooking cycle, and the food can become dry, insufficiently moist, or soggy. The automatic cooking cycles can be more reliable and eliminate or reduce guesswork by the user, but they are more complex to implement with respect to the oven controller. Additionally, when the automatic cooking cycles correspond to specific foods, the oven needs to have programs for implementing each individual cycle. Further, the user often cannot adjust the parameters of the food-specific automatic cycles if the user prefers for the food to be cooked in a different manner. Thus, it is desirable to have a method of steam cooking having a manual cooking cycle that is simple to implement and sufficiently adjustable to produce a desired cooked food item yet incorporates some automated aspects to eliminate the guesswork associated with prior art manual cooking cycles.